


Honesty is the Best Policy! {Café Edition} - Honest the Cat

by HonesttheCat



Series: Honesty is the Best Policy [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Blaze almost causes a fire, Crossdressing, Maid Cafe, Main characters are Shadow and an OC, Mephiles and Sonic are regulars, Mephiles destroys the building, Mephiles is a tentacle monster, Multi, Rouge's Cafe, Shadow is a brooding vegetable, Some OCs work there as well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25509169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonesttheCat/pseuds/HonesttheCat
Summary: This story is about everyone working at a maid café! Which of course means all the Sonic girls + Shadow are going to work there. Honest and a couple other OCs of mine will be in this, too, of course! Expect multiple couples just cause.This story was originally posted on Wattpad.(There is a plot to how the cafe came to be, but I lost the first two or so chapters, so derp. But I will hopefully be able to track them down later on.It is July 25th, 2020 when I am posting this, and I originally wrote this story on Jun 12th, 2016, but, uh, I can still find it! o.o;)(The reason I chose this story as one of the stories to re-post on this website is because it's on-going. And, it's going to continue to be on-going until Honest or I get another job. Seems the most worthwhile.)(Please read the notes and the beginning and end of chapter for important and not-so-important info!)
Relationships: Manic the Hedgehog/Scourge the Hedgehog, Mephiles the Dark/Shadow the Hedgehog, Mephiles the Dark/Silver the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Series: Honesty is the Best Policy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613083
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. What Happens in the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> (Some of the notes in this story were written when I initially wrote the chapters, but some are from when I am re-posting this on Archive of Our Own. The new notes are in parenthesis [These things "( ), [ ]"] while the old notes aren't.)  
> (Also, when I was originally writing this story, I was in high school and, therefore, used the time I had in class to draw pointless pictures. As a sort of bonus, I'm going to try to find some of those old drawings and include them in this.)
> 
> All the feels in this first chapter... not really.

Shadow found Honest by the big, rectangular window in the main room, her face pressed against the glass. It was raining outside the window.

"Honest! You're worse than me, now! What are you doing looking all dreary on a rainy day?" Honest didn't answer. He sighed and began to tug her back to her room. "We've got to go to school, come on!"

She reached towards the window. "But it's raining, and-"

"Why do you have to be so pitiful all the time? It's usually you dragging me..." he muttered, still pulling.

When Honest emerged from her room in the clothing she wore everyday to school, Shadow was watching the weather.

The meteorologist said, "The rain will only last until 10 am today. Then there will be sunny skies, which will continue for the next three days..."

This time it was Honest pulling him out the door and towards the school.

At this rate, they'd be late for school, so Shadow pressed a button on the side of his shoes and led Honest on a speedy course towards the school. And, 9 or so hours later, Shadow and Honest flew out of the school even quicker towards the café.

Once at the café, Honest soon realized that they got there a little too early.

"Well, I guess not everybody exits school with a rocket-propelled hedgehog, so that's to be expected," she told Shadow before dragging him into the back room to get changed into their uniforms.

People, staff and customers alike, started showing up as they were gone and, when they emerged several minutes later, Rouge and Honey immediately started pushing them around.

After creating all of the uniforms, Honey fell in love with the designs and made one for herself, somehow making Rouge have to hire her. It's not like she was doing it for money, so that was one less person she would have to pay for working. Good for her.

Shadow was slipping up every now and again, and he said it was because he had a never ending fear that Sonic would show up and win some little right to have him alone like the other day.

Honest, however, was completely carefree as she was busy running to the kitchen and back. It was obvious she was rushing so that Rouge would tell her she could stop so that she could pester Shadow, only putting him more on edge.

Suddenly, Honey caught Honest by her arm mid run.

"Um, could you maybe help Akane...?"

Honest turned around to see Akane struggling with a pile of dishes in her hands. Apparently Shadow had cleaned off two whole tables and absentmindedly gave all the dishes to Akane. "I'm here, Akane! Let me just take a little off the top here..." _Crash_.

In no time at all, Honest made her first mess on the job. Akane was on the floor, picking up pieces of a broken plate off the floor, tears in her eyes.

Shadow turned around at the sudden noise and proceeded to stare Honest down until she decided to do something. Honest, of course, wasn't having it.

"You work here, too! Quit standing there like an idiot and get a broom!!"

Shadow couldn't help but choke back a laugh as he did what she said. Honest helped Akane up and picked up the pieces of broken glass.

Good thing Sonic wasn't there to see this... And none other than he walked through the door at that very moment. The two maids greeting people at the door got in the way as best they could, but he saw the mess anyway.

"Wow, so professional of you."

Shadow walked over with the broom and started sweeping up the crumbs of food. Honest went to the closet for a mop, and Akane sat in a chair, weeping. Sonic just grinned and told the other maids what he wanted to eat and drink.

"He didn't need to show up," Shadow said, sweeping away. "I bet he's not even hungry."

"Oh, I'm hungry," Sonic said, walking up behind Shadow. Shadow's ears fell down. "For my Shadow to give me my order."

"Oh grow up, faker! I'll get it for you, but not because you told me to!" Shadow said, keeping his head down as he stomped off to the kitchen.

Honest came out with a mop and a bucket, and stooped to clean up the tea and water that was spilled at Sonic's feet. I hate to say it, but that faker. You know, Shadow is right to call him that, in so many ways.

A couple minutes later and Shadow had entered through the door to the kitchen with Sonic's order. Sonic stared him down, probably waiting for Shadow to trip. Honest eyed him suspiciously from behind the counter, afraid he might try to pull something as soon as she turned her back on him.

...

Today was Friday the 13th and everyone knows what that means. For Honest it meant that a particular floating hedge-zombie (I laughed after that) followed her around all day being particularly creepy. Honest had "had it" many times, but he would not stop. So, she quit trying and started tuning him out. When she encountered her best-est friend, she made sure Mephiles wasn't floating close behind. And he was. Oh well.

"Why hello, Shadow-kun!" she exclaimed, sitting beside him. He didn't seem to be paying attention to her, so she pulled out his earphones and yelled, "DON'T IGNORE ME!"

This got his attention, as right away he tensed up and turned towards her, his eyes going wide.

"What. Is. It?"

Honest smiled to herself. "Will you please help me to write my next fan fiction?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow like he always likes to do and turned back to his computer. In a few clicks he had a picture pulled up off Honest's DeviantArt page.

"Remember this picture you drew for Sonic, but he refused?"

It was a picture that Honest hadn't seen in awhile. It was the one of Sonic offering Shadow an earbud and him saying, "Faker."

"Oh, yeah. That one. What about it? I'm about to add on to it and have a page filled with examples of Sonic being a faker."

Shadow hesitated before saying in a low voice, "Can you put this in your story?"

"Of course I can! Oh my gosh, you should have asked me a long time ago!" Honest turned back to her computer screen and got to work on her fan fiction.

...

Honest and Shadow walked from school that afternoon, but, instead of going straight to the café, they were stopped by Sonic at the school's front gate. "Good afternoon, Shadow," Sonic said, smiling.

"Um, and Honest," Shadow said angrily, feeling as if Sonic was just picking on him. Which he was, I might add.

"Are you guys heading to the café?" Sonic asked, his smile not fading.

Shadow crossed his arms. "Maybe."

Sonic laughed. "Of course you are. You can't lie to me."

Shadow and Honest started walking again, walking right past him. They thought they had lost him, until they got to the café.

"Hello," Sonic said. He was leaning against the doors, not letting them inside.

Shadow looked ticked like usual whenever Sonic was being a faker. "What do you want, hedgehog?" he spat.

Honest looked as if she was going to punch Sonic in the mouth, but she kept her temper.

Sonic didn't have the money for a real mp3 player, so he had his earphones connected to his 3DS. He sighed and moved to the right.

"What I want I can order from you later," he said. Honest pushed past Sonic and into the building.

Shadow walked behind her, and when he met Sonic at the door, Sonic offered him an earbud. "It's your theme song."

"Which one?" Shadow asked, not really caring.

Sonic said, "All Hail Shadow"

"Faker," is all he said as he followed Honest into the café.

...

"There you go!" Honest said, pressing enter for the last time. It was almost time for school to dismiss.

Shadow quietly read it to himself. "Why do you always have to make me sound like a geek?"

Honest laughed. "You make yourself sound like a geek."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the end of chapter 1! It probably took a week or so of study halls to type this jumble of short stories, but it was definitely worth it. See you in the next chapter! ♡


	2. Shadow's the Faker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut out a large section of this chapter due to the fact that it may really confuse readers if they haven't read my other stories. If you're interested in reading it, you can do so here: https://www.wattpad.com/270237651-honesty-is-the-best-policy-caf%C3%A9-edition-chapter-2

It was Friday, May 27th and Honest was going to the library with Shadow. Honest didn't really like to read all that much, so she was just there to give him company despite him telling her that he wanted to be alone.

Shadow looked at a book he got off the shelf while Honest got on one of the computers and looked at pictures of Shadow, Sonic, Silver, and Mephiles. One was of Silver and a cute, little fox. Honest turned around to look at Shadow, "Hey, Shadow. You ever thought about getting a pet?"

"We have Akane already, though," he said, absentmindedly reading the back of a book.

Honest laughed. "She doesn't count!"

"But what if we get a pet rabbit or something, and it turns out to be a rabbit girl?"

Honest sighed and went back to searching. "I actually wouldn't mind a new friend..." she said to herself. Shadow rolled his eyes and continued to scan the shelves.

"Nerd~! I'm surprised I'm not finding any pictures of you reading books, you nerd!" Honest exclaimed, looking through the pictures on DA until her eyes lit up again. "Oh! Here's one! It's of you trying to focus on reading a book over Sonic being a faker."

Shadow dashed over to see the picture. "Ha ha. Looks like just about every day."

Honest kept scrolling. "I bet I can draw a better one." Shadow just rolled his eyes yet again.

"You do know there are millions of Sonic x Readers you can read on WattPad if you want," Honest said, hanging her head backwards off her chair to see him.

Shadow's face went red. "S-So you mean the reader would become m-me?"

Honest giggled at his stuttering voice. "If you use my account, you can look at my library of Sonic fanfics and choose some that catch your eye..."

Shadow bit his lip and looked over at Honest. He stopped when Honest suddenly stood up in her chair and pointed her finger at him. "A-ha! So you do like Sonic!"

"I said nothing of the sort!" Shadow snarled. However, his cheeks said otherwise as they were beet red again in a matter of seconds. Honest laughed until she hiccuped, then her eyes flew open and her tail fluffed up as the chair collapsed underneath her and sent Honest flying into Shadow, caused them both to become a heap on the ground. "Sorry!"

...

Shadow found a book about the history of the Chaos Emeralds and was reading it as him and Honest walked towards the park where they were going to meet some friends.

"Don't they say not to read and walk?" Honest asked, her fingers entangled in Shadow's.

Shadow's expression didn't change. "You're just going to have to guide me then so that I don't run into anything," he said, not looking up.

"Then come on!" Honest sped up, no, charged off into the distance. However, her hand was still locked with his, so he ended up coming along with her, his metal shoes skidding on the concrete and sending sparks flying.

Eventually they made it to the park, where a specific pair of hedgehogs were waiting for them. They were Silver and Mephiles. They both had sodas and Mephiles had his tilted up to his mouth as if he was drinking it, but of course it wasn't actually coming out because Mephiles didn't have a mouth to drink with.

Honest's face darkened as she skidded to a stop. Shadow wasn't ready for her to abruptly stop like that, so he ended up flying past her with nothing but a brick wall to prevent him from flying all the way down the street. "I didn't know Mephiles would be here!"

Mephiles must of heard her because he looked up and said, "Where Silver goes, I go-" before drinking air through his straw. Somehow he was able to use a straw without a mouth. This only made Honest even more on edge.

Shadow, after recovering from hitting his head on the wall, found that he couldn't remember anything he had just read. "Darn," he said, snapping his fingers.

Silver used his psychokinesis to take Shadow book from him. "Wow! Look at all the pretty pictures!"

"Hey!" Shadow said. "I need to have that book returned in two weeks or I'll get a month suspension from checking anything else out!"

"Hah, nerd," Mephiles said, taking the book from Silver and proceeding to flip through the pages.

"Hah, nerd!" Silver said, copying Mephiles.

Shadow was fuming. "I tried to tell him," Honest said, shrugging. Shadow grabbed ahold of Honest's tail and began tugging Honest back in the direction of the library.

"But wait!" Silver exclaimed, waving Shadow's book in the air above his head.

When Shadow turned around tentacles came from no where and pulled him and Honest back to the table and tyed them to their seats. Mephiles narrowed his eyes. "We'll buy you icecream."

"What?! You don't really think that something like icecream will be enough to make us stay, do you? Honest-?" Shadow turned to see Honest about to spring from her seat if she hadn't of been tyed down by pure, dark energy.

"Did you say icecream? Of course we'll stay!"

"Yay!" Silver said, and then he went to get icecream.

...

Eventually, Silver got back with their icecreams. Honest went to work instantly, but Shadow just sat there, staring intently at the table. In time, he spoke up. "So, uh-- when can I have my book back?"

"When you eat that icecream cone," Mephiles replied instantly.

"Well, you see-"

"Eat it."

"But I'm not very hungry-"

"Eat it."

"Honest will be happy to eat mine, too-"

"Shadow," Mephiles exclaimed. "Can't you see even Honest, your best friend, wants you to eat it?"

This was the first time he had realised the look on Honest's face was telling him "eat it" as well. "Um..."

"I will make him eat it!" Honest exclaimed, standing on top of the table and announcing it to the world.

Silver and Mephiles clapped in wonderment. "W-W-What do you mean by that???" Shadow asked.

Honest looked down at him and grinned. "W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W That's you; That's what you sound like."

"Whelp," Mephiles said, standing up and releasing Shadow. Somehow Honest had used her super-mobian strengths to break free of something otherwise thought indestructable just to make an overly dramatic statement. Mephiles tossed Shadow the book. "Our job here is done. Come, Silver." Silver got up and followed Mephiles out of the park. "One of our agents will meet you on the first for a follow-up examination. Good-bye for now, Cat, Shadow."

Honest watched as Mephiles and Silver left the park before leaving, too, with Shadow.

\---

So that was chapter 2! And also, apparently, Mephiles likes to pretend to be someone who would have agents. I dunno why. The whole ice cream eating thing is a weird mystery that is still unsolved even today.


	3. Much to Shadow's Dismay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is adequately sized and full of Shadow's POV and *cough* another character... Anyways, I hope you enjoy and remember to leave a review if you do. It would mean a whole lot to me! <3

"Aww, yeah! The King is back, baby!" a green hedgehog with an over-the-top, leather jacket and flashy, red sunglasses exclaimed, throwing the front door open.

He looked around and found Honest and Shadow on the couch, watching old episodes of Sonic Boom because season 2 STILL ISN'T OUT YET.

Suddenly Honest's face lit up and she dashed over, pulling Scourge into an overly dramatic hug. "OMG, I'm so sorry for abandoning yoooouuuu!"

Scourge looked around nervously and blushed. "Uh,y-yeah, um..." Scourge whispered in Honest's ear. "Stripes-?"

Honest got what he was putting across, but she wasn't ready to let go yet. "But the last time I talked to you was in that alternate timeline I wrote about a year ago!"

Scourge looked confused. Suddenly his face changed and he pushed her away before anouncing, "I just wanted to let you know I'm back. Now I'll be off to tell Fiona the same thing. And also-" Scourge reached for the doorknob, turning to Honest. "Fiona's back as well." And then he just slammed the door and disappeared. Honest shrugged and went back to watching old episodes of season 1 with Shadow.

\---

It was 11:20 PM on June 17th and Honest was busily playing Skyrim when Shadow knocked on her door. "Helloooo...?" He whispered quietly.

Honest went to go open the door. Her face twisted into a puzzled frown when she saw Shadow standing at her door with tired eyes. "If you're going to play without headphones, at least play with the volume down. I can hear you "fus ro dah"-ing from across the hallway."

"Sorry!" Honest spoke, blushing.

"Y-Yeah, um, also..." Shadow scratched his head. "Since we don't work until 3 in the afternoon, do you think you, Sonic, and I can get chili dogs for lunch at 1?"

"Of course!" Honest said immediately after he had finished talking. Lunch with him and Sonic would make her day. Honest's smile didn't fade as she looked at her feet. "Let's just hope Sonic doesn't follow us to the café." Then she looked up, "Beam...!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes at her. "Uh, yeah. Just- meet me there if you're not walking with us." He then proceeded to shut the door and stomp deliberately down the hallway to his room.

Honest then beamed a third time, but this time it was to herself as she turned Skyrim off and went to bed. She would need all the energy in the world to keep from falling asleep during lunch. That, would ruin her day.

\---

The next day, Honest was completely missing. She didn't come down for breakfast that morning, nor did she show up when Sonic accidently stepped on a jingly object. In fact, now that Shadow thought about it, even Sonic had gone missing.

Before Shadow knew it, it was 1 o'clock. But still no one. Shadow sighed to himself. "No one to walk with me? Well, then. I'll have to walk there alone, I suppose."

When he rounded a corner and came within view of the chili dog stand, he saw three figures sitting at stools. One was blue, one blond, and one-- green?

" _Hey_!" Shadow shouted. "Sonic, Honest! Who is-" suddenly the green moebian sitting between them stood up and was instantly in Shadow's face.

"Hi there, Stripes!" Scourge said, looking somewhat pleased to see him.

"B-B-Wha?"

Honest and Sonic walked over. "We decided to show up early," Honest said.

Sonic laughed. "And when we showed up, Scourge was here so we thought we'd talk."

Shadow turned towards Honest. "But you were gone all day, weren't you? Where were you?"

Honest put her hands behind her back. "Well, I took Akane on a walk!"

Shadow still looked confused. "Your walk took 6 hours?"

"Well, you see, while we were walking we came across-"

"I'd rather not know," Shadow said, stopping her. "Let's just eat our lunch and leave for the café."

When Shadow reached a stool and proceded to take a seat, Scourge sat beside him. " _Without_ him."

Scourge left quietly as both Honest and Sonic took their places beside Shadow.

\---

An hour passed with nothing put mindless chit-chat being exchanged by the cat and the two hedgehogs. When both Shadow and Honest were done eating, Shadow stood up. "We're off to work at the café. Be seeing you," Shadow announced. He then opened his eyes and squinted at Sonic. "Please don't follow us."

They had maybe gone two steps before whoosh Sonic was in front of them. "What did you say, Faker? I couldn't hear you over the sound of me following you."

Shadow took a deep breath and grabbed ahold of Honest's wrist as he whizzed right through Sonic, Honest's legs a blur as she tried desperately to match his pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! And Happy Birthday to Sonic. As of the 23rd, he is 25 years old after all. Remember to vote, and the next chapter will be full of Summertime goodness such as, I don't know, Sonic and friends on the beach?  
> (Why was I talking about my other stories again? Past Honest was so distractible.)


	4. The Early Bird Doesn't Get Worms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! New chapter! Let's just go ahead and jump in...

It was August 26 and finally the weekend! Honest came flying out of the school gate with her best friend Shadow in tow. Shadow's wrists were bruised from Honest constantly yanking him this way or that. Even though it was now officially the weekend, they still needed to go for one more day of work.

When Honest and Shadow got to the café, they peeked through the front window. They saw a mysterious blue figure sitting at one of the tables inside. Honest and Shadow both looked at each other and sighed.

The two mobians entered the café and tried desperately not to look at the person. It was... dare I say it... no use.

"What's happening?" In a supersonic second, none other than Sonic the Hedgehog was standing in front of them. He was holding an orangish colored cat with a brown stripe over her left ear. _Pop_. Sonic was now holding an orangish colored cat _girl_.

Shadow looked as if he was freaked out, but Honest was just plain upset. Sonic dropped the girl, Akane, and Honest latched on to both Shadow and Akane's wrists. "Let's go get changed."

They went into the small room to the left of the front entrance, leaving Sonic standing outside the door tapping his foot, obviously upset. On the inside was a small concrete with nothing interesting going on except two closets and a room full of boxes and crates.

Honest went to one of the closets after letting go of Akane and Shadow. There was a sticker on the door of the closet that had the face of a famous fashion designer on it as well as the words "You're wearing Honey!" Honest opened the closet and rummaged around for their uniforms.

Honest returned a minute later with their uniforms. Shadow grabbed his and started putting it on immediately. Honest helped Akane into her's before sitting on one of the two tables in the room and putting on her's. Akane and Shadow were done, and were now waiting by the door, obviously too scared to face Sonic without Honest.

Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, all the other workers started flooding in through the door. Honest, now in her uniform, fell off the table and narrowly missed getting stomped on by Key, a fellow employee.

Shadow must've thought this whole situation funny because he covered his mouth and looked away. "Honest!" Akane exclaimed with a startled tone. She raced over to help her up. When customers started showing, Honest fixed the bow in her hair and went outside.

Once in the front of the café, Honest was given two large plates by Amy, one of the chefs, and told to deliver them to table 013. Honest tried hard to keep her balance and took the plates to their owners. When she got to the table, she was horrified to see...

Jet and Wave. She gulped and dropped the plates in front of them. "I-Is th-there anything-"

Wave cut her off. "We don't want anything else."

Honest, who was additionally frightened by Jet being there, jumped at Wave's being, well, Wave. "Okay!" she dashed back into the kitchen.

When Key saw Honest run into the room in a hurry, she looked to be completely unaware that Honest was distressed. She gave Honest another plate, and Honest teetered out of the kitchen with her teeth chattering.

Of course the next table was Sonic's. She gives up and sits beside him, sighing. "Uh, Honest?" he asks.

"Hm?" Honest says, looking at Sonic with a face that said 'I dare you to say anything about what I'm doing.' He said something anyway.

"I thought we were enemies...?" he stated, it coming out as a question because he was confused as well.

Honest pointed over her shoulder at Jet, who was sitting by the window across the room. "Not when Senpai's around." Sonic just bowed his head and started eating quietly.

(Jet was such a useless character back in the day. Nowadays he barely exists at all.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UBER short chapter today. It looked long when I wrote it in my notebook a week or so ago. @.@ But anyway, hope you enjoyed this. More short chapters on the way. I need to clear out all my old scribbles in my notebook. I've sorted them in order by date. Hope you enjoyed! Be sure to read my other story, Honesty is the Best Policy {w/Sonic}, and don't forget to leave a review if you like this chapter. It helps out a lot. See ya guys.


	5. Free Coffee!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original Story notes:  
> This is a longer chapter than I originally intended. It's actually made of two parts-- one written September 29th (of 2016) and one written October 6th. This might be the last part added to this story in a while. We will just have to see how much time the new story takes to type when I type it.

Today was national coffee day, so that meant that Rouge's Cafe was giving away free coffee to anybody that walked through the doors. And by anybody, I meant _anybody_.

As soon as the sign out front switched to 'OPEN', Scourge, Fleetway, and Fiona walked into the cafe. Akane disappeared into the kitchen as soon as she saw them as if she were scared, leaving Honest to confront them alone.

"What can I get you?" Honest asked, already knowing the answer.

"Coffee," Fiona told her. "Three, please."

At least she said please. "Okay! Feel free to sit anywhere you want," Honest replied, heading to the kitchen to inform Key that she would need to start up one of the two coffee makers they had sitting on the counter.

The smell of fresh coffee started filling the air as two others walked into the cafe. They were Espio and Charmy. The two detectives were looking for the same thing-- two free coffees. The coffee makers finished making the first pitcher, and Honest took three cups to Scourge, Fiona, and Fleetway. Fiona yet again said thank you, and Honest attempted to smile back, but it came out more as a disapproving frown because she... disapproved. While Honest took care of their first set of customers, Akane delivered coffee to Charmy and Espio. Espio bowed silently and Charmy gave her a loud, "Thank you!"

"Y-You're welcome!" Akane said timidly and steered herself back to the kitchen once more.

Then came a quiet period, where no one came or left the cafe. Until a regular visitor came through the front doors with a trail of fire lighting itself behind him. Akane dashed over and dumped the water and soap out of the mop bucket and onto the flames.

The visitor than zipped over the front counter where Honey was standing, a hostile frown on the designer's face. "One free cup of coffee!"

"Take a seat. We'll bring it to you," she said flatly.

"You know, you and everybody else that works here really needs to learn to be more professional," Sonic said, resting against the counter and preparing for a long speech.

"Here's your coffee, Faker." Shadow walked up and handed the coffee to Sonic. When Sonic went to grab the handle, his hand grasped open air. Shadow released his grip on it, only to have the cup fall onto the ground, spilling hot coffee on Shadow's white stockings. He yelped and jumped backwards, hitting Honest who was about to give Sonic a stern talking to, and making Honest fall backwards, grasping Shadow's collar so that he fell down as well. Sonic just stared on, his mouth agape.

"Honest! Let go!" he said a moment later. Honest did what he asked and released her grip on his collar, allowing him to stand back up. Akane came racing in a second later to come sweep up the broken pieces of porcelain when the cup broke on impact with the floor, and Honest disappeared into the back room to find some towels for Shadow. Key had watched the situation from the doorway to the kitchen. She went to work making another pot of coffee right away.

\---

After school on October 6, 2016, Honest and Shadow managed to slip away and travel to the cafe alone without any blue pineapples following them. When they had reached their destination, the two found that the cafe was quiet. Too quiet. Neither Rouge nor Honey were there already, which set Honest and Shadow on edge. It wasn't like they hadn't arrived early in the past. Heck, even their first day on the job they got there a good half hour earlier than usual. Honest and Shadow saw lights, and they turned to watch as a blue-violet car pulled up into the cafe parking lot. Rouge got out. She walked inside.

"You're here," Shadow said, stating the obvious. Rouge walked past him and went to turn on the lights.

"How come you never lock the doors?" Honest asked her. She could imagine Scourge walking in here after school and stealing himself a cake or pie out of one of the freezers while they were gone.

Rouge didn't answer. She flipped some switches on the wall behind the front counters. The building came to life, the bulbs overhead lighting up the room and the display shelves near the windows beginning to spin slowly, advertising little cookies and baked bread in small, glass boxes.

Shadow grabbed Honest's sleeve and pulled her into the back room to get ready for customers to start arriving.

Key appeared in the room a moment later. Honest never remembered her being early in the past. She was wearing what she had worn to school that day: her old green shirt with a star on it, her old black leggings, and her old, tan boots. What was it, Key's Throwback Thursday? Whatever it was, her outfit was about to change. She went to the closet and pulled out her uniform. Honest put a hand over Shadow's eyes.

"What are you doing that for?" Shadow asked her, grabbing her wrist and attempting to pull her hand away.

"You're a guy, Shadow! Don't forget that even though you're wearing a dress!" Shadow quit struggling, for he knew what she was trying to get across to him. Key looked red as she quickly changed into her uniform. Honest uncovered Shadow's eyes, and the four sat in chairs and waited for customers to show up.

After some time, the cafe's newest employee, Rosy the Rascal, flew in through the door. She was a strange one, but no one doubted she was good at her job. Most of the time, she stood at the front counter, answering customers' questions and explaining the menu. Sometimes you could find her in the kitchen, cleaning up spills and tidying up when food was left out on the countertops. Rosy was better described as a helper. Honest enjoyed returning to the kitchen to get someone's order and seeing her there.

Today, however, Scourge entered the building and walked up to the counter. Rosy was there. Her eyes filled with hearts. Scourge instantly saw her and spun around, bolting for the exit. "Scourgey! Come back here!!" Rosy charged after him, pulling her hammer out of thin air. They disappeared outside. For the rest of the day, Rosy was nowhere to be found. Honey had a calculator with her the whole time, subtracting pay every hour she was missing. Eventually Rosy returned with her victim bound to a chair. She set him in the corner of the room and served coffee to him, which he would be paying for himself later.


	6. Cold Café Afternoon

Honest bolted into the cafe, slamming the door shut behind her. A couple frozen snowflakes were sucked in as she did so, floating to the ground and sticking to the warm floor, melting almost instantly. "Remind me again why it's snowing in the middle of November?"

Akane and Shadow were sitting at the table nearest the door. They were busily sipping coffee in a desperate attempt to become warm. One of the chairs had a cup of coffee sitting in front of it. Steam rose in billows from the top.

Honest immediately dashed to her coffee and took a big gulp. Shadow looked over at Akane, who was wearing long socks and a furry coat. "I told her earlier that it was because she wasn't wearing anything on her legs."

Honest looked up from her coffee, shooting a glare at him with words ready to escape her mouth. She wore her usual short, pastel dress, but with a green sweatshirt over the top. "Yes, and I told you that I can't wear anything because it's against my code."

Just then Rouge, the owner of the cafe, walked in. Every inch of her was covered in fur and fuzz. She wore earmuffs that were way too small for her giant, bat ears. She also wore a big, fur coat and large, fur-lined boots. Honest just looked on with jealousy. It really wasn't that it was against her code, but she just didn't own a single pair of pants or jeans. All she owned winter-wise was the green sweatshirt she was wearing then, which said "Chao City Gym" on the front. She also had a scarf somewhere that she had received Christmas 2012 from Silver, but Akane had torn it to shreds a while ago.

"Come on, get dressed! Customers will be coming soon for warm coffee!" Rouge told them. She went to take her place behind the counter.

Honest could understand why they would want something to warm them up. Honest nodded and rose from her chair, leaving her coffee at the table. Akane took one last sip from her cup and stood up as well. Shadow pushed his way into the back room, deciding to bring his coffee with him.

When they came out of the room several moments later, the heat had been up and running for a while, and the cafe was starting to feel cozy once again.

Key was already starting up the coffee pots in the kitchen. Akane and Honest stood at the window leading into the area where Amy and Blaze cooked, waiting for customers to start showing up.

Just then, before Honest could even completely take a first breath, the king of weirdos himself walked through the door. It was... Sonic.

"Hey! Why are you always the first one to show up??!!" Honest yelled across the room, waving her fist at him.

"Uh," Sonic looked behind him, then back at Honest. "I'm fast?"

"No! I think it's because you're a weirdo!" she exclaimed once more, stomping over. "Where do you want to stinking sit??"

Sonic looked almost frightened. "I, uh, want to sit by a window."

Honest gave him a look that could make anyone else turn and run. "Alright," she said slowly. "This way."

As Honest led a shivering, blue pineapple to his seat, Shadow walked out of the back room in his uniform. His pink, lace-covered uniform just in case you forget. (The everlasting plot point! :P)

"What do you want to eat?" Honest asked with a scowl. Sonic looked over a menu, frantically searching for something. Shadow knew better than to mess with Honest when she was in one of her moods, so he stayed as far away from the table as he could while he waited for another customer to show up.

Several moments later, the anti-Sonic walked through the doors. It appeared as if he were alone for a moment, before Manic, Sonic's brother, walked in behind him.

Shadow skated over to them. He stopped in front of them, blocking them from entering any further. "Where would you two like to sit?"

"It doesn't matter," Scourge replied. Singing was heard resounding from the kitchen.

"Window," Manic said.

Shadow looked between the two. "Well, you're going to have to make a decision."

Scourge rolled his eyes. "Alright, window."

"Okay, you can take either the table beside Sonic's or the one in the back there," Shadow said, giving them another choice.

"By Sonic!" "In the back!" Shadow sighed. "Make up your minds!"

Scourge once again let Manic choose. He chose the table beside Sonic's. Honest was busy with Sonic still, so the two rotten, green pineapples were safe to sit down without getting yelled at by an angry cat that clearly hadn't got enough sleep the previous two nights. Manic and Scourge ordered coffee and strawberry cake. Sonic ordered a coffee to go.

Amy topped the cake off with a few, ripe strawberries and handed it over the counter to Akane, who delivered it to Scourge and Manic. "Here you go!" she exclaimed, setting it carefully between the two. She pulled two plastic forks out of a pocket in her apron as well as napkins for them to use.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" Akane asked. Honest reached over and pulled Akane out of the way. "If they want something else, they can get up and get it themselves."

Akane just shrugged and walked back in the direction of the front counter. Rouge was there, counting out rings. "Uh, excuse me, but where is the new maid, the pink hedgehog that was here last week?" Akane asked.

Rouge looked across the counter at her. "Oh, you mean Rosy? She was supposed to work today. She didn't show up, though. Do you think she's sick?"

"I don't know," Akane replied. She shook her head. "I don't think she was at school either."

Meanwhile, Honest was delivering Sonic's coffee to him. As soon as he had grabbed the to-go cup, he was out the door in a flash of light. Honest just grumpily sat down at his table, where she then fell asleep.

Akane smiled when she saw this. A deep sigh was heard, and Blaze the Cat, the third waitress, walked out of the backroom in her uniform, knowing that Shadow and Akane would undoubtedly need assistance. Akane didn't know why she would be sighing because everyone did more work than she did.

Scourge and Manic had left the cafe at four o'clock. The Babylon Rogues arrived at around that time, and left thirty minutes later. Honest had slept through the whole thing. At five o'clock, Honest had lifted her head just enough to see Silver and Mephiles enter the cafe. Honest got up from the table and moved somewhere else so that they could sit down. She then fell asleep in the kitchen with a platter of donuts.

When Honey the Cat entered the kitchen to check up on her, she ended up leaving her alone and taking the donuts to the customers herself, something she would never normally do under normal circumstances.

Finally it was six o'clock. Shadow entered the kitchen to wake Honest up.

"Who, what, where?" she asked as soon as he had brought her into a sitting position. She blinked to clear her eyes and saw him standing there. "Is it morning?"

"No," he corrected. "It's time to leave. It's six."

"Oh." She looked around the kitchen before closing her eyes again. She reached out her hands toward him. "Carry me, will you?"

Shadow rolled his eyes and took her hand, helping her to stand upright. "Thanks," she replied. She then ran out of the kitchen to go get Akane and leave. Shadow gave a "hmph" and skated out behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed, and if you did, please remember to comment! I would really appreciate it if you did. <3


	7. Sonadow ?? :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may or may not be Sonadow in this chapter...

It was January 20th, 2017 and Honest was exiting school that afternoon. Shadow wasn't with her. He was walking with Rouge, and she was only just now exiting her classroom. Sonic was staining by the gate to the school, waiting for someone.

"Hey, Sonic! Who're you waiting for?" Honest asked, walking up to him.

"N-No one. I, uh, you want to walk to the cafe?" he asked her.

"Uh, sure." Honest tilted her head and gave him a look. "Do you not have anything else to do after school? Can't you go hang out with Knuckles?"

Sonic laughed. "Knuckles? Are you kidding? Have you ever tried to hang with Knuckles? He is SO boring. He doesn't do anything. The other day I asked him what he was doing for lunch. He told me to follow him. He made a sandwich extremely slowly, ate it slowly, went to punch rocks. I am NOT going to watch Knuckles punch rocks." He then began laughing once more.

Honest smiled. "Okay, okay. Let's go."

They arrived at the cafe to find that Shadow and Rouge had already arrived. The lights were on, and Rouge was laying menus on each of the thirteen tables. Honest and Sonic walked inside.

"I need to go meet Shadow in the back room to get changed into my uniform. Take a seat and decide on something to order." Sonic nodded. Honest walked through the door to their left.

Several moments after Honest left, the bells on the door sounded and Akane walked into the cafe. She saw Sonic standing in front of the backroom door, seemingly waiting for something.

"S-Sonic? Are you waiting to order?" she asked. Sonic turned around and his eyes lit up.

"Oh! Akane! How are you? I came here with Honest, and I'm just waiting for her," he explained.

Akane smiled. "Okay, then! I need to go change. I'll check on her for you."

Sonic smiled back. "Thanks."

When Akane opened the door, Shadow came walking out. "Good afternoon, Shadow," Akane said to him.

Shadow nodded and saw Sonic. He quickly went back inside, shutting Akane out.

"Sh-Shadow!" Akane yelled. She banged on the door with her fist.

"I don't want to work today," came Shadow's muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"Hey!" Honest's voice was heard a second later from inside the room. "Open the door, Shadow!"

A crash was heard and soon after the door opened, Honest had crawled over Shadow and was pushing Sonic outside. "I'm sorry, weirdo, but you need to leave right now."

"But I didn't do anything," Sonic protested. Akane opened up the front doors and Honest shoved him through. "Can't I stay for coffee?" he asked.

"No!" Honest then slammed the door in his face and her and Akane held it closed.

Now it was Sonic's voice that was coming from the other side of a door. "If you give me Shadow I'll leave!"

"Never," Honest, Akane, and Shadow said in unison.

It was now an hour later and Sonic was still standing outside the door. Honest and Akane were still holding it closed. Shadow was sitting at the table nearest the door, asleep. Rouge had pulled up a chair and was sitting at the counter, playing a bubble popping game on her phone. A crowd of customers started forming at the door around Sonic.

Akane left Honest at the door and walked up to the counter. Rouge looked up from her game.

"What do we do? Sonic is preventing any customers from getting into the cafe!" she informed Rouge.

Rouge sighed. "We'll give Sonic what he wants, and he'll leave."

Honest turned around to look at them. "You're not saying we should give him Shadow, are you?" Shadow was asleep at the table, so he couldn't hear them.

Rouge just nodded. "Well, what would _you_ have us do?"

"Em..." Honest looked over at Shadow.

"Hey, what are you doing? Quit-" Together Akane and Honest shoved Shadow out the door. "Run!"

Shadow looked panicked as he flew out the door and down the street. He got a distance away from the cafe before Sonic took what looked like one step, appearing beside him.

"Wanna race?" he asked. Shadow sped up, but then Sonic jumped suddenly, causing Shadow to fall to the ground.

"Ah!" went Shadow. Honest and Akane pushed through the crowd and ran towards the two hedgehogs.

\---

Shadow had a big, blue bruise above his left eye when he returned to the cafe. His dress was torn on one side. Honey had a sewing kit on hand and was on her knees, trying to stitch the tear closed. Sonic was sipping coffee by a window silently. The only good thing that came out of this was that the cafe was now filled with customers.

Shadow and Sonic were having a long-distance disagreement.

"Look what you did to my dress, faker!" Shadow yelled.

"The Ultimate Lifeform shouldn't be worried about his dress. Much less be wearing one," Sonic pointed out.

"B-But Rouge made me-"

"You're the Ultimate Lifeform. You should be able to walk away right now without even having to excuse yourself."

"What's with bringing up my title all of a sudden? It doesn't mean anything anymore."

Sonic finished his coffee and sat in the chair beside Shadow.

"What are you doing? Get away from me you pathetic-" Suddenly Sonic leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Shadow shot up, out of his uniform, and into the back room, where Sonic guessed he felt the most safe. Honest's eyes filled up with hearts, and she ran into the back room after him. Honey just continued working on fixing Shadow's dress. Sonic just quietly stepped out the front door.


	8. Busy Day at the Café

It was March 3rd, 2017. Honest and Shadow walked out of the school gates and started towards Rouge's Café. Sonic wasn't following them thankfully, but it was pretty chilly. Honest had her "Chao City Gym" sweatshirt on as usual, but she was still cold, as usual. Shadow seemed not affected by the weather, though Honest realised that he might be, but no one could tell... as usual. So, yeah, everything was how it should be. Until they arrived at the café.

As soon as Honest had walked through the doors, she could recognize the difference in the atmosphere of the room. Shadow reached out to the doorknob of the door to the back room.

"Don't go in there!" Honest exclaimed, pulling on his arm.

He looked over at her, confused. "Why?"

"I- I don't know, but just don't."

Shadow didn't listen and opened the door anyway. Inside was the blue king of the weirdos, Sonic. The same person they were hoping wasn't going to follow them was already at the café.

He was just standing there with one hand on a table and one hand on his hip. What could he want? Rouge hadn't arrived yet. Akane didn't walk with them that day. The café was completely empty and devoid of... witnesses.

(Cue the high noon western music)

Shadow and Sonic stared each other down for many moments until Sonic waved his arms. "I'm going to try on Shadow's uniform!" He shot to one of the closets.

Shadow and Honest watched for several minutes as Sonic rifled through the dresses hanging within. "It's not in that closet," Shadow informed him.

Just then, Akane walked into the café and stood behind them. "What's going on? Why is Sonic in there?"

Sonic went to the other closet across from that one and rifled through that one, too. Eventually Sonic lifted the dress above his head. "I found it!"

"That's Akane's," Shadow said.

"What's the difference? Isn't your's the same?" he asked.

"No. First of all, you'd never fit in her dress. She's shorter than Honest," Shadow pointed out. Sonic put the dress back and started searching again.

"What's the point to all of this anyway?" Shadow asked, walking over. Honest jumped up and sat on one of the tables in the changing room.

"I want to prove to Honest that Sonic uke is superior to Shadow uke!" He exclaimed as if it were a mighty undertaking.

Honest began sweating. "What? No one can change my mind about something like that!" Honest jumped off the table and ran to Shadow. "Please make him stop! This is unethical!"

Shadow, meanwhile, had his hands clasped together and was patiently waiting, not making an effort to stop him at all.

Akane ran to them and together, Akane and Honest managed to pull Sonic away from the closet. Shadow sighed and helped them tie the faker to a chair with some strong fabric Honey had left in one of the closets.

"B-But I would be an awesome waitress! I could run really fast and deliver orders!" Honest tied a piece of fabric around his mouth.

Honest dusted off her hands. "Aha! That should keep Sonic under control for a few hours at least. I do read Sonic uke fan fictions, too, though. I just don't prefer them." She shrugged and walked to the right closet.

Akane tilted her head. "We better put a piece of cloth over his eyes while we get changed into our uniforms." Honest looked through the closet and found a small strip of blue fabric that was just long enough to suit the purpose of covering his two, gigantic eye-things.

\---

By the time the two cats and the hedgehog had come out of the room, a group of customers had formed at the door. One was Silver, one was Manic, and the rest were random background characters from, I don't know, Sonic Underground, Sonic Boom, or something. Akane and Honest immediately split up, Honest heading for the line of people and Akane heading for the counter where neatly folded napkins and silverware sat.

Shadow followed Honest, noting the orders as the people took their seats. Blaze was sitting on a stool near the door to the kitchen, reading a book on the Great Fire of a faraway land called "Chicago".

In the kitchen, Amy and Key had all three ovens running. Each of the ovens had two sections. Each of the six sections had two racks. All racks had something on them; the racks held brownies, cookies, tarts, and cakes. One held a blueberry pie. All of the smells mixed together and filled the room. Each time the door swung open, a cloud of scent was released into the main room.

Sonic and the chair he was tied to were sitting near the kitchen door. The smells were torture to the sweet-loving hedgie. Some of the customers were confused as to why there was what appeared to be a kidnapping victim in the middle of the restaurant, but none of them questioned it, except Silver.

When Honest was bringing his coffee to his table, Silver rested a hand on her shoulder. "Why is Sonic sitting outside the kitchen, tied to a chair?"

Honest was about to explain to him what had happened earlier, but he stopped her, taking on a brighter mood and appearance in only a second. "You finally were able to find him out, right? You caught the Iblis Trigger!!"

Honest flushed white. The whole café went silent. Honest laughed a little too loudly. "Of course not! N-No, I'll tell you what really happened!" The café grew loud once more.

With the café now back on track, Honest told Silver about how Sonic had tried to influence her taste in fanfictions, and how she, Akane, and Shadow had to tie him up to keep him from trying on Shadow's dress and thereby declaring himself the "uke". Silver just nodded slowly in understanding.

"I kind of like the stories with me and Sonic being together, and me being on top," Silver said cheerily, offering his opinion on the matter.

"Oh, uh, really? That's cool..." Honest really didn't like talking about shipping with the people she shipped, so she just left to do her job quietly.

The whole time her and Silver had been talking, Shadow and Akane had to take over for her. It was a busy day, so the two of them were running back and forth. Honest cringed when they ran smack into each other after a while. She was about to go back to work, when she realised the two of them weren't getting back up.

"Akane? Shadow?" Honest sprinted to the scene. Luckily the two hadn't been carrying any dishes or food or anything, but they were in a heap on the ground and were having trouble rising to their feet. She helped Akane up, which then helped Shadow get up on his own, using the handhold of a table.

Akane rubbed her head. "Ouch, that hurt." She blinked a couple of times before heading for the kitchen. Shadow dusted off his dress with a "hmph" before heading towards a table that desperately needed cleaning.

When Honest and Akane passed Sonic while heading into the kitchen, they noticed that the shred of fabric covering his eyes was on the floor. He sighed to himself. "That was a beautiful view I had just then."

Honest took that "view" as a look up Shadow's, who had been facing away from the kitchen, skirt. "He doesn't even wear underwear!!" She hit him upside the head with the hot plate she had used to bring Silver his coffee. Sonic was unconscious on impact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N): Poor Sonic. ;( Thanks for reading.


	9. Cupcakes?

Honest and Shadow were walking to the cafe on Friday, March 17th, their arms locked together and their book bags dragging along the ground.

"Rouge said that we're going to be getting more cupcake decorations today," Honest told Shadow, smiling a cat smile.

"Mm-hm," Shadow said, uninterested. Honest sighed, frowned, and was silent. She then proceeded to be excited again.

"Some of the sprinkles resemble kitty-cats, and some resemble bunny-rabbits!" she exclaimed, looking eager.

Shadow just nodded. Honest drew a sharp breath and let go of his arm. She pulled her backpack over her shoulder and quickened her pace. Suddenly, when Shadow began to fall behind, he sped up as well, pulling Honest along as he flew down the sidewalk with flames shooting out behind him.

They were at the cafe in a matter of seconds. Rouge was already there. Sonic was assisting her as she brought boxes of cupcake decorations into the kitchen. When Sonic saw the two of them, okay, maybe just Shadow, his eyes lit up.

"Shadow!" He placed the box he had been carrying on the chair he had been tied to earlier in the week. It had just been left there beside the kitchen door as a permanent reminder of what would happen to Sonic if he did anything else to hurt Shadow. Sonic then zipped to him.

Honest held a hand out in front of her friend. "Remember the chair, Sonic."

Sonic pouted his lip out and looked to Shadow. "Please don't let her put me in the chair. We should just go into the back room silently and maybe you can-"

"No," Shadow told him. He jabbed a finger sharply into his rival's chest. "I don't love you."

"But do you _like_ me?" Sonic asked in a smart manner.

"Come on, Honest we need to get changed," said Shadow.

He pulled Honest's wrist. Honest smiled, narrowing her eyes at Sonic. "Okay."

The look Honest gave Sonic as they entered the room was so scary-looking. He helped Rouge carry the last few boxes into the kitchen before going to the farthest corner from the door and laying his head down at a table, most likely shedding some sort of tears. [;( Poor Sanic.]

\---

Later, Honest was bringing a whole tray of pink and white cupcakes to one of the tables where a Scourge rip-off and a purple porcupine were sitting. Akane was bringing a pitcher of tea. Sonic was still sitting at the table in the darkest corner of the room, but now he was playing a loud game on Honest's Gameboy. They had already received complaints about the loud music coming from the small handheld, but Sonic was in some sort of state where he couldn't be deterred from anything by anything anyone told him to do. Shadow felt guilty.

Blaze was reading her book about Chicago like yesterday. Key and Amy were steadily baking cupcakes. Rosy was wiping off abandoned tables near the door. Rouge was talking to some customers by the register. She seemed to be happy as she talked, but her face held a frown the whole time.

_Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!_

Key was at the pass-through with another tray of cupcakes, hitting the bell over and over. "Somebody better get these!"

Shadow happened to be the only waitress with nothing going on at that moment, so he walked over. "Here."

Shadow reached up to receive the tray before checking the sticky attached to the side. "Table 10." He looked around.

Eventually he spotted the table. He still hadn't learned where all the tables were in the seven months he had been working there. At the table sat a cat with short, red hair and a cat with long, light blue hair. He set the cupcakes, one side vanilla with white frosting and one side chocolate with chocolate frosting. "Thank you," they both said.

Shadow nodded a "you're welcome" before going to help Akane pour tea into people's cups. He held the pitcher while she held the cup, and together they gave out refills in almost half the time it would've taken Akane by herself. Honest was still bringing cupcakes back and forth, a blur of blond and pink. Every once and a while she would get distracted by helping decorate the cupcakes, but inevitably she would have to run frantically into the main eating area when someone called her name.

\---

"So," Rouge said to the seven maids at closing time. "The cupcakes were a big hit." She looked at all of them with a proud smile, but no one smiled back. Everyone was exhausted minus Blaze, whom never did anything around there except complain or read or sit around, but even she didn't smile back.

Spring was in full swing even if no one around Station Square could tell. It was March 17th, and the sun was setting outside the cafe's many windows at six o'clock, yet it was somewhere around freezing outside and the coatrack by the door was covered in winter coats.

"Next week is Spring break, so don't bother coming to work Monday. When we do resume, though, come prepared knowing we will be selling cupcakes again," Rouge reminded everyone.

"Why do people like our cupcakes now more than when we had less toppings and sprinkles? It doesn't make sense to me," Honest said. Shadow shrugged and Key looked to be thinking hard about why.

"Because the new decorations are laced with drugs?" Key offered.

...

"No! That can't be the case!" Honest exclaimed when they had all gone eerily silent for a few seconds. "Rouge, you wouldn't drug customers!" Honest laughed.

Rouge looked at Key, confused. "Why would you say that?"

"Um," Key thought.

"Where did you get the decorations?" Shadow asked.

"A local cafe and bakery supply store," Rouge replied.

"No, no. I think it was just because when people hear that something's new, they immediately think it's better," Amy said.

Suddenly they all heard a yawn and a couple of them turned around to see that Sonic was still there, and he was waking up.

"L-Let's go home and meet the faker there," Shadow suggested to Honest, pulling her hand. "Okay."


End file.
